It’s not often we get homework in church, but our application last week asked for 2 hours of our time to map out what we would like our Christian life to look like across the next 6 months. Surely 2 hours isn’t too much for the most important and rewarding thing in your life; your relationship with the Lord? So what are these 2 hours for?
To begin with, they are to map out how we are going to ‘run the race with perseverance’ (Heb 12:1). The author of Hebrews tells us the Christian life is a ‘race’. Yet the Greek word is ‘agon’, which is where we get our English word ‘agony’ from. The Christian life is a decades long agonising struggle. It we don’t prepare for this fight, we will be knocked out in the first round. So Step 1 in our homework is to admit that being a Christian is signing up for the fight of your life.
Second, we are to throw off ‘the sin that so easily entangles’. The author suggests that living with a habitual sin(s) is like running the Christian race with our shoelaces tied together (entangled). Step 2 of the homework is to put in place boundaries, accountability, prayer and hard work to start to defeat those sins.
Third, there are plenty of non-sinful things in life that can hold us back too. These include things like unedifying relationships, unhelpful entertainment, idolatrous pursuits, etc. The author says such things are like running a race carrying 4 heavy shopping bags. Step 3 of the homework is to figure out how we can relieve ourselves of these burdens to our Christian life.
Finally, the ‘secret weapon’ for the Christian life is to ‘fix our eyes on Jesus’ (Heb 12:2). When we see Jesus giving all he had for us, we cannot help but want to live for him. The reason we need to ‘fix’ our eyes on him is because we so easily forget. So Step 4 of the homework is to write a plan as to how we will stay focused on Jesus each and every day.
So will you commit to 2 hours of your life across the next week, to work on the most important battle of your life? It will be the best 2 hours you spend.
